Accepting Criticism

Recently there was an incident involving Youtube personality, Totalbiscuit, and his review of Day One: Garry’s Incident. What happened is that he got a review copy of the game and then gave it a negative review which then prompted developer, Wild Games Studios, to have the video taken off for copyright violation. Later, after much backlash, they sent out an apology and allowed the video to be put back up. Now, Wild Games Studios has claimed that it was due to a monetary issue and not because it was a bad review. That claim itself has been brought into question and there are, no doubt, many people who don’t believe them. In the end they did issue an apology and that is what really matters but this got me thinking about the level of criticism that seems to exist among video games.

There have been a few games that have received massive criticism within the past few years and in both direction but the attitude is rather unfair. It was the issue of Day One: Garry’s Incident that made me think about it. It’s not the first game to have had this issue and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Now many games get a poor or high rating or somewhere in between but for the most part the reviews are left alone. However there are issues that seem to exist among both developers and the gaming  community as a whole and a big issue is the ability to accept criticism. Many games that gamers believe are perfect tens get overly angry to levels that just aren’t healthy when their beloved game gets a lower rating or a not-so-perfect review.

This attitude between gamers and companies really does need to stop because it really is just one of the reasons that people have such a negative view of the entire gaming culture. We need to accept criticisms and accept that other people will not like the same things we do. If Grand Theft Auto V gets a 9/10, which is still a good score, and you think it deserves a 10/10 then so what? You’re still going to enjoy the game despite someone finding a flaw in it. The same goes for a game like The Last of Us. We all are going to like different games for different reasons and will also dislike games others like. That’s how subjective mediums work.

In the case of a game like Day One: Garry’s Incident, and going on the assumption that it was the negative review that angered Wild Games Studios, then that’s another issue on a similar level. Developers aren’t always going to make games that people will like. That’s just how it goes. Sometimes the publisher will rush the game, sometimes the game will be extremely buggy and sometimes the game just isn’t all that good. One of the risks you deal with in reviews is that the submitted game will get a bad review.

I think developers can do a better job learning from this than fighting back. A good idea is to see why the game got a bad review, see what was wrong with the game that was submitted and then move forward from there. Keep what works, fix what doesn’t and try new ideas to improve upon it. Anyone at an art school can tell you that critique is important and a good way to improve. Video games can learn from this too. Improve on things that work and learn from things that don’t.

I really believe if both sides start taking a more mature standpoint on video game criticism then we can help the medium grow and be further accepted in its own right. I think it’ll work but it takes effort from everyone and nothing happens without effort.